


The Handy Dandy Messenger Number 3 Footnote

by gamesformay



Category: Supernatural
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-10
Updated: 2013-07-10
Packaged: 2017-12-18 09:41:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/878390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gamesformay/pseuds/gamesformay





	The Handy Dandy Messenger Number 3 Footnote

  1. house: Generic term for where the audience sits. Dean works for an outdoor theater festival, the kind that performs a different play every summer, so the “house” is in this case a really big expanse of grass.

  2. gobos: A special type of stage light that projects cool textures and patterns onto the set.

  3. executive director: Guy in charge of the whole festival. Not necessarily the director of the play- those are usually traded out from year to year.

  4. preview: Before a show opens, it has three or four “preview” performances; they’re technically dress rehearsals, but they’re open to the sparse audience (usually comprised of sponsors and old people) that shows up.

  5. quarterstaff: A plain, heavy wooden pole, a few feet long, that is used as a weapon in more minimalistic fight sequences. You don’t wanna get smacked with one.

  6. “Never shake thy gory locks at me”: This is Macbeth’s line from Act 3, Scene 4 to the ghost of Banquo, whose hair and face is presumably covered in blood. Dean is a nerd.

  7. ensemble: The actors on stage without named parts. Simply speaking, play is to ensemble as musical is to chorus.

  8. Benvolio: Romeo’s sensible, peacemaker best friend in Romeo and Juliet. He stays out of trouble and is one of the only ones left alive at the end.

  9. Complete Works: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, of which there are many editions, identical only in that they all weigh a thousand pounds.

  10. “Iambs and tetrameter and couplets and shit”: Shakespeare’s plays were written almost entirely in poetry, specifically iambic pentameter, of which there are many intricacies. Google it if you want, but there’s a reason a quick guy like Dean can never keep it all straight.

  11. call for line: During rehearsals, an actor who forgets what to say next will yell out “Line”, and the stage manager will prompt them from the script.

  12. “top of three-four”: Beginning of Act 3, Scene 4.

  13. “strut and fret his hour upon the stage”: From Dean’s favorite speech: “Life’s but a[...] poor player, who struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and is heard from no more”.

  14. blocking: Figuring out who stands where and moves when during a scene. Boring as shit.

  15. Folger: This is the edition they hand out in English class. [You know the one.](http://www.amazon.com/Macbeth-Folger-Shakespeare-Library-ebook/dp/B004KKZ01U)

  16. meter: Pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of iambic pentameter. One line is made of five pairs of stressed and unstressed syllables, each called a ‘foot’.

  17. call: The time cast and crew are required to be at the theater before a performance.

  18. “not that parallel, anything but that-”: Romeo and Juliet knew each other for five days. I’m not saying there’s a parallel, but there’s totally a parallel.

  19. fight call: Before every performance actors are required to run through all fight sequences (of which there are many in Macbeth) with a fight choreographer, to ensure that everyone’s warmed up and no one gets hurt during the scene. Skipping it isn’t a good idea, and is a liability for the director/theater.

  20. Equity: Actor’s Equity Association, a labor union for stage actors and managers. Equity actors get benefits including minimum salary laws, work hour laws, and legal rights, but some directors aren’t as eager to cast them because of the potential risk (for instance, getting sued after an actor is gutted during a sword fighting scene for which they haven’t been adequately warmed up).

  21. Thankyoufifteen: Before a performance (or at least in theaters without backstage PA systems), the stage manager or other crew members will call out how many minutes until go time, and all actors within earshot respond with this phrase, ensuring that everyone gets the message. (“Thirty minutes!” -“Thank you thirty!”)

  22. Slings and Arrows: A Canadian TV series documenting the shenanigans of the actors, directors, and managers of the fictional New Burbage Shakespeare Festival. A favorite among many Shakespearean actors.





End file.
